Walnut Grove Plantation Revolutionary War Skirmish

Walnut Grove Plantation Skirmish, Spartanburg, SC

I recently visited the Walnut Grove Plantation in Spartanburg, SC, and discovered the poignant story of a skirmish that more than likely was played out in many places in the backcountry during the Revolutionary War.

Soldier's tent

Near the end of the war, Captain William “Bloody Bill” Cunningham deserted the Americans and became a partisan leader for the British.  He gathered a band of loyalists who took it upon themselves to take their revenge on the patriots.  Captain Cunningham and his men passed through the counties of Newberry and Laurens and ended their career in the present county of Spartanburg.

barter

A young wounded patriot, Captain Steadman, lay upstairs in the Moore’s manor house.  The Moores were patriots who were caring for the captain who was engaged to marry one of their daughters. On the day of the Walnut Grove Plantation skirmish, two patriots came to visit Captain Steadman, but Bloody Bill Cunningham and his men entered the house and murdered Steadman and his friends as they tried to escape.

Soldier prepares dinner

         Meanwhile, Kate Barry, a spy and scout during the Revolution, learned of the attack on her father’s house and rode to get her husband’s militia company. Her husband, Captain Andrew Barry, rushed his troops to Walnut Grove Plantation and drove off the loyalists. He was too late to save Steadman, but kept the house from burning.


spinners at Walnut Grove reenactment

The three patriots were buried by the Moore family, and their graves were the beginning of the family cemetery.